Missourians have much at stake as Congress eyes food stamp cuts

Jul. 3, 2013

Written by

and Maureen Groppe

WASHINGTON — The number of Missourians relying on food stamps has soared to historic levels in recent years — a trend seen across the U.S.

Almost one in six Missouri residents received food stamps in May, according to the most recent data from the state Department of Social Services. And Missouri’s participation in the federal food stamp program has been consistently above the national average in recent years.

That means Show-Me State residents have a lot at stake as Congress debates how much to cut the safety-net program, which is part of the farm bill.

The Senate passed legislation in June to revamp existing food and farm programs, shaving $400 million annually in food stamp funding. But 10 days later, the House killed its version of the farm bill amid sharp divisions over the food stamp program, or SNAP, for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The House proposal would have sliced $2 billion annually in food stamp funding — reductions that most Democrats said went too far and many Republicans said did not go far enough. Their combined opposition to the food stamp changes — which would have trimmed about 3 percent from the program’s $80 billion budget and tightened eligibility standards — sunk the bill.

Those who want to reduce benefits say the program has grown out of control and states have found a way to game the system to get more people onto the federal program or to bump up their benefits. Defenders say the recent increases are due to the recent recession, and they argue that costs will go down on their own without program changes.

“The Senate version was cutting out some waste and fraud and frankly a big loophole in the qualifications for food stamps some states were taking advantage of,” she said. “The Senate version would not, I think, have a dramatic impact on how hungry kids are in Missouri. I think the House version would. Having said that, I still wish the House version would have passed so we could at least have gone to conference and compromised.”

Rep. Billy Long, R-Springfield, is among those who advocated for deeper cuts than the $20 billion, over 10years, included in the House proposal. Both he and Vicky Hartzler, R-Harrisonville, voted in favor of an amendment to the House bill that would have increased the total SNAP reductions to $31 billion over that period.

That amendment failed, but Long and Hartzler both voted in favor of final passage.

“We missed an opportunity not only to establish certainty into agricultural markets, but also to implement much-needed, money-saving reforms into the food stamp program,” Long said of the House vote. He said the House cuts would have made sure that limited government resources were “going to help people who are struggling in this persistently bad economy.”

In the wake of the farm bill’s demise, House GOP leaders are now scrambling to chart a new path forward. The House and Senate bills both renew a bevy of other federal agriculture initiatives, from conservation to trade programs.

The current farm law expires Sept. 30. If lawmakers don’t act before that deadline, a 1949 law would automatically take effect, triggering outdated planting restrictions and subsidy payments.

Some conservative lawmakers argue the best way to resolve the food stamp fight is to split the farm bill in two, with food stamps and other nutrition programs put on a separate track from the commodity and agriculture policy provisions.

But there’s bipartisan resistance to that idea, and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters last week that no decisions have been made about how to proceed.

The current standoff has Missouri anti-hunger advocates and food stamp recipients on edge.

“There are a lot of people who just don’t realize the human impact of what those cuts would mean,” said Glenn Koenen, chair of the hunger task force for the Missouri Association for Social Welfare, a social justice group.

Bart Brown, president and CEO of Ozarks Food Harvest, a Springfield food bank that serves southwest Missouri, said the proposed cuts are motivated by a “myth” that the food stamp program is rife with abuse.

“SNAP should be the last program that we cut because ... it’s phenomenally accurate and phenomenally fraud free,” Brown said. “People are getting the exact benefit that they need.”

Brown said food pantries will not be able to make up the difference if Congress passes the GOP-backed cuts.

“If the House cuts were to go into effect, we’d have to provide another 4 million meals a year to southwest Missouri,” Brown said. “And that’s not feasible.”

About 20,000 households in Greene County received food stamps in May, according to the DSS figures. The average Greene County resident enrolled in the program receives about $127 per month in assistance.

Nationally, the average household receiving food stamps in 2010 had an income of about $8,800 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The maximum monthly benefit for one person is $200; for a family of three it’s $526.

In 2011, the number of people on food stamps — an average of 45 million a month — and the program’s $78 billion cost were record highs, according to the CBO.

The 70 percent increase in beneficiaries nationally between 2007 and 2011 was driven primarily by the weak economy, according to the CBO analysis. Plus, the 2009 stimulus package included a temporary boost in benefits — set to expire in November — which also increased costs.

But even if none of the proposed changes are made, CBO projects that participation will begin to fall after 2014 because of the improving economy and declining unemployment rate.Average monthly participation in Missouri has already ticked down slightly, from 944,058 in May 2012 to 927,925 in May 2013.

However, the number of recipients will stay higher than historical standards partly because of the growing U.S. population. And because more people have become familiar with food stamps, they’re more likely to rejoin the program if they become eligible again.

Conservative advocacy groups in Washington are pressing Republicans to take a hard line, arguing the U.S. cannot afford what it’s currently spending on food stamps.

Heritage Action for America, the political arm of a conservative D.C. think tank, launched radio ads in May attacking the House farm bill as “a trillion dollar piece of legislation” that would “bankroll President Obama’s food stamp agenda.” Heritage derided the House’s proposed $2 billion in annual cuts as “weak sauce” and has argued for more sweeping curbs on the program.

Some states, including Missouri, make people eligible for food stamps if they’re also getting assistance through certain other welfare programs. In some states — but not Missouri — that assistance can include something as little as receiving information from the state about domestic violence programs.

“These states, with all due respect, are gaming the system to bring otherwise ineligible (food stamp) participants into the program,” Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, argued earlier this month in an unsuccessful attempt to get the Senate to go along with the House in eliminating the “categorical eligibility” method.

Advocates say the proposed change would cut off people with modest assets or high expenses, such as the newly unemployed who still have high housing costs or low-wage working parents who pay for child care. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the change would eliminate assistance to 1.8 million people.